Turbine-wheel propeller and motor



April 3, 1930- c. B. STRANDGREN 1,753,252

TURBINE WHEEL PRQPELLER AND MOTOR Filed Feb. 17, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I 6 gvvervfag April 8, 1930. v c. B; STRANDGREN TURBINE WHEEL PROPELLER AND MOTOR Filed Feb. 17, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Ill.

Patented Apr. 8, 1930 UNITED STATES CARL BRUNO STRANDGREN, OF LE'VESINET, FRANCE TURBINE-WHEEL PROPELLER AND MOTOR Application filed February 17, 1928, Serial No. 255,160, and in=France February 25, 1927.

The present invention relates to turbine wheels provided with feathering or oscillating wings, paddles or the like,.which may be used as a propelling and lifting device movable in a fluid, or as a prime-mover actuated by a fluid in motion. The invention relates more particularly to feathering paddle wheels wherein the wings or the like are disposed about a central shaft, around which they are adapted to rotate, each wing being further pivoted on an axis which is parallel to the central shaft, and the oscil lation being periodic, the period being equal to that of the revolution on the central shaft.

It has been found that such a wheel will operate in the best conditions if the oscillating motion of the wings is so controlled that the normals to the operative surface of the wings or the like constantly cross each other at a fixed point. I V The invention has for its object to provide a device which will comply with the above condition,

Another object 7 p in providing a control device adapted to control the oscillation of the wings, in such manner as to allow at will any change in the law of oscillation of the wings by varying at will the position of the intersecting point of the normals to the wings.

In the appended drawing, which shows diagrammatically and by way of example a constructional form of the device, employed as a propelling and lifting device for aircraft: v

Fig. 1 is a diagram of the device for the control of the oscillations of the wings.

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatical elevational View showing a paddle wheel according to the invention, the device controlling the eccentricity being omitted.

Fig. 3 is a section on a larger scale on the line 33 of Fig. 2. s

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Referring to the diagram of Fig. 1, 5 de-' notes the central shaft on which is rotatable the paddle wheel, and-C denotes thecircle of the invention consists shaft 5. A disc 8 is rotatably mounted on rollers 1, 2, 8, so asto roll about the same, that is about a centre 4 distinct from the axis 40f shaft 5.

The disc 8 is provided with a radial guide 5 or like means 9, and toeach arm 14 is pivoted a right-angled rod 1011, whereof one side 10 is slidable in the guide 9 of the disc, and the other side 11 is pivoted to a link 18 parallel with the arm 14 and whose length is equal to the distance between the pivot pins 7 and 12, said link being pivoted at 13 upon the wing 15. The set of members 11, 14, 15, 1.8 forms, as may be clearly seen, a deformable parallelogram. The normal 6-7 at 7 to the straight line 7 13, which is parallel with the operative face of the wing crosses the, centre line 44 at a point 16. It will be seen that the triangles 4-4 +12 and 4-6'7 are similar and hence the normal 67 to ,713 will always cross the line'44 at point 6, [whichever may be the angular position of arm 14 about shaft 5. Point 6 will also be common to the normals to the other wings provided that the pivot pins 7 are all situated on circle G and that the apex12 of the right-angled bars 10, 11 are all situated on circle C having axis'4 as a centre. s

Fig. 1 shows at 15 another position of wing 15 after a given rotation, the corresponding positions of the various members being designated by the same reference numerals with the indicia a.

The wheel shown in Fig. 2 has a star shape and consists of arms '14 carrying the wings or paddles 15, each arm 14 being mounted on a disc 16 keyed to the shaft 5. The construction of the star-shaped body and the wings may be similar to that described in my prior Patent No. 1,639,908 of Aug. 28, 9Q 1927. The said arms may consist of steel plate, wood, duralumin metal, or like material, and the outline of their section may be analogous to that of the struts of an aeroplane cell. The wings 15 are mountedon suitably shaped metal plates 17 which are strengthened at the pivotation pOintsQ Said plates may have a U section so as to form forked parts straddling over the ends of arms 14 and links 18. Upon a second axle of said forked part is pivotally mounted link i 18 which is pivoted at its other end to the small arm 11 of the right-angled rod 1011. The apex of the various rods 1011 are mounted upon pivot pins 12 journalled in the disc 16 which is keyed to the central shaft 5, said pins 12 being situated on a common circle C.w-hose centre is 4.

The discs 8 are mounted upon three rollers 123, carried by a rectangular metal plate 20, movable in the guides 2223 of a frame 24. Said frame may be displaced vertically, due to the provision of a slidable connection with a fixed bracket 26. Said displacement may be controlled, for instance by means of; a screw 25 engaging a nut 24 secured to the frame 2 1, said screw having a smooth shank journalled in a bearing 26 secured to bracket 26. The screw 28 may be rotated by means of a hand-wheel 27 or by any suitable distant control means. The horizontal displacement of plate 20 with reference to frame 24, may be controlled for instance by means of a screw 28 having a smooth partjournaled in a bearing 31 secured to frame 2 1 and a screwthreaded part engaging a nut 29 slidable on a rod 21 secured to the plate 20. The screw 28 is actuated by a hand-wheel 30 or by any suitable distant controlling means.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 2 and 3, there are as many discs 8 as there are arms and wings, said discs being laid together and being rotatable on the rollers 1, 2, 3 by concentric and independent rotations. Each disc comprises eitherra radial guide in which are slidab-le several studs secured to the rod 10, or, as shown, several studs 32 may be secured to the discs 8 and cooperate with a slot 33 provided on the rod 10.

The, operation is as follows:

The engine of the aircraft (not shown) drives the shaft 5 by means of a suitable gearing. The star-shaped member shown in Fig.2 comprising the disc 16 carrying the pivot-pins 12, the arms, 14, the wings 15 and the links 18 (which remain parallel to the arms 14) is thus rotated about the axis 4. The motion of the axles 12 and the rods 10-11 causes the motion of all the discs 8 about the rollers 1.23, but, due to the eccentricity of said discs with reference to the shaft 5, a reciprocating sliding motion is imparted to the studs 32 in the slots 33; the rods 11 are thus oscillated on the pins 12, and the wings, which are connected with the rods 11 and form the, opposite sides of the parallellograms, will also oscillate by a periodic movement having the same period as the movement of revolution of the entire wheel on the shaft 5.

It will be observed that in the case of a lifting and propelling device adapted to travel in the air, the motion of the wings with reference to the air will produce upon each wing a resultant pressure depending upon the law of oscillation of the wings. I may determine this law, as well as the characteristics of the wings and of their revolution about the central shaft, in such manner that this resultant will be vertical and Will compensate for the total weight of the aircraft, whereby the latter will rise after the manner of a helicopter.

lVhen the pilot considers the height to be suiiicient and desires to travel horizontally, he is enabled, by changing the amount and the direction of the eccentricity, to obtain another law of oscillation of the wings, such that the general resultant of the pressures on the wings may be decomposed into a vert cal component which sustains the apparatus and ahorizontal component which causes it to advance in the proper direction at a forward speed which may be varied at will from zero to the maximum speed.

Such an apparatus possesses great advantages over the known aircraft from the fact that it no longer requires special grounds for the starting and. landing, and chiefly that the horizontal speed in flight can be reduced, whereby a travel may be performed without danger during the night and in foggy weather, these being the most important obstacles to aerial navigation which remain to be overcome.

Obviously, the said invention is not limited to the embodiment herein specified, this being given solely by way of example, and it is susceptible of numerous modifications without departing from the principle of the invention. For instance, any desired number of wheels may be used, as also the number of wings or paddles on each wheel. The said wings may be given any suitable form. The mechanism for rotating the wings may have a different construction from the one described. I may employ any suitable gear for varying the eccentricity of the discs with reference to the central shaft.

The said invention is applicable to any apparatus travelling in air or in any other fluid, and it may also be used as a source of power in a fluid in motion, said fluid rotating the wings or paddles of the wheel in order to supply the desired power to the central shaft Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A turbine wheel for working in a fluid in relative motion thereto, comprising in combination a rotary member, a number of oscillating members pivoted to said rotary member about axes parallel to the axis of rotation of said rotary member, rigid members extending in a substantially radial direction and respectively pivoted to said oscillating members, cross-members respectively pivoted to said rotary member and to said rigid members, guide members rigidly secured to said cross-members respectively and rotary guiding means cooperating with said guide members respectively and whereby the axes of the latter are caused to constantly intersect at a single point.

2. A turbine wheel as claimed in claim 1, wherein said rotary guiding means comprise a number of independently loosely rotatable and concentrically arranged discs having radial extensions respectively, and means for slidably connecting said guide members with said extensions.

3. A turbine wheel for working in a fluid in relative motion thereto, comprising in combination a rotary member, a number of oscillating members pivoted to said rotary member about axes parallel to the axis of rotation of said rotary member, rigid members extending in a substantially radial direction and respectively pivoted to said oscillating members, cross-members respectively pivoted to said rotary member and to said rigid members, guide-members rigidly secured to said cross-members respectively, a number of independently movable guiding means cooperating with said guide members and adapted to rotate about a common centre and radially arranged relatively thereto, means for rotatably supportingsaid movable guiding means, and means for displacing said supporting meanstransversally, and for adjusting the position of said centre relatively to said axis of rotation.

4. A turbine wheel as claimed in claim 3, V

wherein said supporting means comprise a number of common rollers adapted to engage circular rolling tracks on said movable guiding means.

5. A turbine wheel for working in a fluid in relative motion thereto, comprising in combination a rotary member, a number of oscillating members having a main surface subjected to the dynamic reaction of the fluid, said members being pivoted to said rotary member about pivot axes parallel to the axis of rotation of said rotary member, rigid links extending in substantially radial directions and respectively pivoted to said os cillating members, right-angled levers pivoted to said rotary member on the straight line connecting said rotation axis to the corresponding pivot axis, one arm of said levers being pivoted to said link, whereby each set comprising said link, said arm, said rotary member, and said main surface forms a deformable parallelogram, and rotary guiding means cooperating with the other arm of said right-angled levers respectively, whereby the axes of said other arms are caused to constantly intersect at a single point.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

CARL BRUNO STRANDGREN. 

